Language Tips

Q:In the news this morning a television reporter who was talking about traffic said, "Traffic is heavier here than a mile further down." That error is easy to correct. "You use farther for distance and further for time or amount." But many literate persons confuse the pair composed v. comprised, and I believe that badly is used incorrectly instead of bad in, "I feel badly." Please comment.

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A:Those pairs could have been ad--ded to my column in the March issue on confusing pairs. Although composed and comprised are often used interchangeably, they are not synonyms. The verb compose means "to constitute" The individual parts compose the whole. The verb comprise means "to be composed of." The whole comprises the parts.

The American Heritage Dictionary uses the following sentences to indicate the difference: "The Union comprises 50 states; fifty states compose the Union." But the AHD Usage Panel notes that although a majority of its members consider that distinction to be important, most members of the public are unaware of or ignore the distinction. I am sure that most readers agree that the distinction is virtually ignored.

The adjective bad is so often substi-tuted for the adverb badly that it will probably soon become acceptable. But until it does, use the adjective bad after verbs of the senses (feel, look, sound, taste, and smell) and after verbs that can be substituted for be (seem, appear, and become). Thus, one feels bad and behave badly. As one grammarian (William A. Sabin) commented, "The only way you can "feel badly" is to have your fingertips removed first."

Two adjectives that are currently mis-used are incredulous and incredible. An at-torney for a lawn‑mower manufacturer, who had been found liable for the death of a child, commented, "I find it incredulous that a jury no longer cares about common sense and personal responsibility." But incredulous means "unable to believe," so it applies only to persons, not to facts, events, and situations. The right word, of course, is incredible, which means "unbelievable." The lawyer should have said, "I find it incredible." A person is incredulous upon hearing about an incredible event.

Another pair, energize and enervate, look alike, but are actually opposites. The verb energize is derived from the Latin noun energia, ("activity or vitality"). The verb enervate looks as if it were derived from the same root, but it comes from the Greek noun nervus ("nerve") plus the prefix e ("out of"). Literally, "Our of nerve"; it means, "to delete vitality or strength." To energize is to provide energy; to enervate is to deprive of energy.

The list goes on. The pair reticent and reluctant should not be confused, but often are. I like the adjective reticent, pos----sibly because it doesn't apply to me. Calvin Coolidge (called "Silent Cal") was reticent (that is, "reserved in, or unwilling to speak"). He once said, "If you don't say anything, you won't be asked to repeat it." But reticent is being used instead of reluctant when it is clearly incorrect, as in: "The senator was reticent to discuss foreign affairs." Senators are rarely reti-cent, but often reluctant. Synonyms of reticent are taciturn and laconic, but they carry slightly different connotations.

The final item on the list of look‑alike pairs that confuse: The verb dissemble, which is sometimes incorrectly sub-sti-tuted for disassemble. The two verbs have nothing to do with each other either in meaning or origin. Disassemble, which means "take apart," adds the negative prefix dis‑ to the verb assemble. The verb dissemble has no negative prefix. It is a single verb meaning "to conceal one's real motives."

But because the verbs share the last two syllables (semble), they sometimes cause con----fusion. Or perhaps, people who use dissemble when they mean disassemble may just be omitting a syllable. That sometimes occurs with the adjective homogeneous. You've heard the mispronunciation homo-genous, with the stress on the second syllable. That pronunciation is by analogy to homogenized, as in "homogenized milk."

The omission of one or more syllables in words has a Greek name, epenthesis. You hear it almost invariably in the mis-pronunciation of veterinarian, who are called vetinarians, losing two syllables in the process. And television and ra-d-io commentators talk about terrism, omit---ting the syllable ‑or. Adjectives that end in ‑ally often lose their penultimate syllable, accidentally and incidentally be-coming accidently and incidently, and they are often spelled that way too. But other ‑ally endings are retained (locally and intentionally). The reason is that your tongue tends to choose the easiest and most direct movement from one sound to the next, modifying the language if necessary in order to do so.

FROM THE MAILBAG I:

Attorney Dick Bales writes that he en-joyed the column about lie v. lay (in the March Bar News). He keeps the two verbs straight by thinking about a "brick layer." A brick layer "lays" a brick, and he compares his "situation" to that of a brick layer's job.

Whatever works! I have a mnemonic that helps me remember the name of the tree that is now in full bloom in our area, the "crape myrtle." The blossoms that cover the limbs of crape myrtle trees in no way resemble the (to me) gloomy name, but I can remember the name by thinking that it rhymes with grape. That makes no sense–but it works.

FROM THE MAILBAG II:

Attorney David Lester called his e‑mail "Haiku Alert" for good reason. It could also be called "The Odyssey in 20 seconds." He found it in a new (2005) book, One Hundred Great Books in Haiku. Here it is, the Odyssey in 17 syllables: "Aegean forecast/ storms, chance of one‑eyed giants,/ delays expected."

My thanks to both readers for their input.

Gertrude Block is Lecturer Emerita at the University of Florida College of Law. Her book ,”Legal Writing Advice: Questions and Answers” (William S. Hein & Co., Inc.) was published in December 2004. Ms. Block is also author of “Effective Legal Writing”, 5th Edition (Foundation Press), with an accompanying instructor's manual. She is co-author of the “Judicial Opinion Writing Manual” (published by the American Bar Association, 1991). Send questions to the ISBA Bar News – Language Tips, Illinois State Bar Association, Illinois Bar Center, Springfield, IL 62701, or e-mail her at block@law.ufl.edu.